CIVITΛS Public Affairs Group

Our Work

Winning Advocacy & Public Affairs Campaigns.

From strengthening communities to enhancing common sense public policy and expanding equality, our team of seasoned professionals based in Washington, D.C., Boston, New York, and Chicago, is equipped with the know-how and network to get the job done.

Civitas works with leaders from across the political spectrum to forge bold, bipartisan government relations plans and to craft cutting-edge communications and marketing campaigns. We are at the helm of shaping public policy at the local, state, and federal levels. And we have the track record to prove it.

We know that for substantive wins with lasting results, this work has to be done on both sides of the aisle. Our team includes Democrats, Republicans, and Independents with deep and long-lasting relationships at the local, state, and federal level. We work with the leading pollsters and consultants from across the political spectrum who share our commitment to results.

Our approach was fine-tuned through our work winning the fight for marriage equality in states throughout the country. Civitas founding partners Patrick Guerriero and Bill Smith spearheaded the groundbreaking successful Gill Action effort to enact state laws on relationship recognition and bring conservatives into the bipartisan effort, a key part of the comprehensive strategy to get the U.S. Supreme Court to grant same-sex couples marriage rights nationwide. Similarly, each of the principals at Civitas played significant roles in securing marriage equality. Marc Solomon served as a key architect of the movement and the national campaign director for Freedom to Marry. In this role he directed a staff of more than 25 with expertise in communications, field organizing, digital media, messaging, lobbying, public engagement, and general campaign management. Katherine Grainger served as assistant counsel for civil rights to the Governor of New York, and in this role wrote and negotiated New York’s marriage equality law. Joanne Schwartz served as managing director of Gill Action where she drove research and message development, and worked to pass and protect relationship recognition and nondiscrimination legislation in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Dave Horwich played an instrumental role in the passage of Illinois’ marriage equality law, including the development of the winning campaign plan and its execution.

We are proud of the issues and organizations we choose to work with at Civitas – all of which represent our shared value set and the difference we hope to make in society.

Campaign Management

Communications, Marketing, and Social Media

Government Relations

National Convenings and Leadership Summits

Organizational Development

Policy Solutions

Public Affairs Management

Philanthropic and Political Donor Strategies

Civitas (siv'i-tas): Good citizenship with Individual and collective responsibility. Accepting certain obligations to one another and to future generations.

Our People

Patrick Guerriero and Bill Smith are the founding partners of Civitas Public Affairs Group. Working with in-house experts and leaders from across the political spectrum, the Civitas team forges bold, bipartisan government relations plans and crafts cutting-edge communications and marketing campaigns.

Patrick Guerriero

Founding Partner

Bill Smith

Founding Partner

Katherine Grainger, Esq.

Principal

Joanne Schwartz

Principal

Dave Horwich

Principal

Marc Solomon

Principal and National Director

James C. Dozier

Principal

Mary Jane Lewis

Controller

Caleb Queen

Director of Operations and Special Projects

Patrick Phillippi

Senior Associate

Adrian Haro

Associate

Aileen Kim

Associate

Chris Cordingley

Associate

Charlotte Wilson

Project Manager

Stephanie Rameau

Project Coordinator

Some of Our Clients

Below is a sampling of our past and present clients and their successes.

NEW YORK – The Joyful Heart Foundation, a leader in the effort to provide cities and states with the resources they need to address their backlog of rape kits, today applauded New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s signing of New York Senate Bill 8117, which takes meaningful steps to address the backlo...